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Stupidity Does Not Earn You Heaven

by: Season Of Magic

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Mommy, the nice man is letting me play with his Pikachu as he puts away my stuff in the room I wanted," Brianna exclaimed happily. "Can I?"

Dawn snapped out her daze and nodded. "As long as you stay within the yard and do not cross the street you can."

"Thank you mommy!" she said as she hugged Dawn and ran towards the mouse Pokemon. "Come on Pikachu let's go!"

Dawn smiled and waited for the movers to get out the house. She wondered whom she should thank for letting her see her daughter smiling. "Honey, who lent you the Pikachu?" she asked curiously.

Brianna gazed up at her mom thoughtfully. "I don't know his name," and she shrugged. "But he does have a pretty hat!" (A/N: think of Ash's Unova outfit.)

"Alright Bri. You can go play." Dawn stated.

Bri was Dawn's nickname for Brianna.

He has a pretty hat she thought and laughed at her daughter's antics. She couldn't be more specific?

Dawn walked inside the house and decided it was only fair for her to make some drinks for the movers, so she went to the kitchen and made some ice-cold lemonade. She got near the steps and called up to them. "Hey, um, I don't know your names but can you all come down here? I made some lemonade."

One of the guys poked his head from the top of the stairs. He had black hair. "Did you say lemonade?"

Dawn nodded. "Yup, it's in the kitchen."

He nodded as well. "We'll be right there," and he ran back to search for his friends. "Guys come on there's lemonade waiting for us downstairs."

Dawn went back to the kitchen and three guys appeared next to her.

"Oh thank Arceus. You don't know how parched we are." one of them said as he leaned towards the counter and grabbed a glass. He had red hair and brown eyes.

The second, who had the same brown eyes and the difference was his black hair, scolded him. "At least say thanks first." he uttered out.

As the third sighed and sat down in a chair he uttered out; "I apologize for these two. They still act as children."

Dawn simply laughed.

"We do not, Tracey!" The Black haired guy said.

"Ash sure does, but I do not." The red haired one said.

"You so do Gary!"

"Shut up you loser."

The second one, now identified as Ash, grinned sheepishly and watched out the window carefully, not even noticing Dawn had passed him a glass full of lemonade. "Looks like Pikachu is getting along fine with the little girl." he noted.

Dawn gasped. "That's your Pikachu?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I hope I did not do anything wrong I mean… I thought that if she was kept occupied she would stay out of our way. I wouldn't want anything to happen to a cutie like her."

Dawn was deeply touched by his words. This was the first time someone, more so a male outside of her friends had truly cared about Brianna's safety. And even if he was only doing his job, she couldn't help but feel grateful. She went and hugged him.

"Thank you," she whispered. "For caring about Brianna even if it is just because of your job."

"Brianna?" He asked.

"The girl you lent your Pikachu to. She's my daughter." Dawn said.

He nodded. "Ah, pretty name." And he smiled brightly. "No wonder she's so adorable, her mom is quite gorgeous!"

Dawn laughed and shook her head. "Thanks, but that's not entirely from me. She got my hair, but she has her father's brains."

"Ah," he said. "Well, no matter what, I think she got your beauty."

Gary and Tracey stared at each other.

"Of course leave it to him to be a chatterbox and forget we're here too." Gary snickered.

"Because of it he's always making friends everywhere he goes." Tracey stated.

"The day is not over, and we have other clients." Gary said.

Dawn looked at them apologetically. "I'm sorry for keeping you all here so long."

Ash shook his head. "It's fine. These lazy bums are just temporary workers anyways."

"Is this what you should be calling the friends who saved your ass, Ketchum!?" Gary couldn't help but retort. "Stop flirting and let's go."

"You call in one favor, and they go a mile." Ash sighed as he noticed the glass and downed the drink in record time. "Thanks for the drinks, you make excellent lemonade."

Dawn laughed. "Sure. It's the least I can do for the people who helped me move."

"You can tell us your name by signing the release form, and we'll be out of your way." Ash said.

Gary rolled his eyes. "She could be married for all you know. Really, stop your flirting."

"I'm not flirting!" Ash said with a blush evident on his face. "... Are you? Um... Married?"

Dawn laughed and winked. "I may be."

"She's not." Tracey said. "Stop going along with it or you'll never hear the end of it from these two, Dawn."

Ash nearly dropped the cup he was holding. "Dawn?"

"That's her name." Tracey said. "I wasn't sure about it at first, but she seemed familiar enough, I just couldn't pinpoint on what."

Dawn gasped. "You're really perceptive."

Ash's face turned into sheer disbelief. Of course, it all made sense. "A-are you a ghost?" he managed to utter out.

She looked at him oddly. "What kind of question is that!" she said pointing accusingly fingers at him. "Of course I'm not a ghost!"

"But you're Dawn, aren't you?" He gaped.

"Not like I was hiding who I am." She replied.

"You're that famous coordinator that no one had heard from since a few years ago." Ash said.

She sighed. "Do I look dead to you?"

Gary laughed. "She caught you there Ash. She seems pretty real to me."

Ash could only stand there confusedly. "Everyone just assumed you were dead."

Dawn stared at him bemusedly and sat down in one of the chairs. "If I'm going to live here in this town you might as well know the story but I warn you that you cannot tell anyone else." the three males nodded, and she continued. "Let's see, I was to be wed to this jerk named Paul."

Ash interrupted her. "Wait a minute... I was there for that! That, was you? Sure showed him."

"Well if you know what happened what's the point of me telling you my story?"

"I think he meant how you managed to evade being in the limelight." Tracey piped in. "You were quite a famous coordinator."

"That's exactly what I mean, Tracey."

"Oh that was easy," she said waving her hands unemotionally. "Once I stopped attending contests, everything died out eventually. Then I just stayed on the down low for a while. I moved here because things seemed calmer."

"I can understand that." Ash replied with a nod. "Pallet Town is the quietest place you can be in Kanto, you chose good."

Gary and Tracey got into their van and Dawn got Brianna to give back Pikachu to Ash.

"Bye Pikachu." Brianna waved sadly as the mouse Pokemon hopped into the van.

Ash was walking towards it but turned back around. "I'm glad you're not a ghost," he began to say, and she stared at him oddly. "If you were, I don't think I'd be able to sleep well seeing as I live right next door."

"I'm glad to know I'm alive too then." Dawn said laughing at the irony of the situation.

Ash knelt down to Brianna's level and wiped away the tears that were falling from her face. "Hey you know what? Angels don't cry, they're always happy and since you're an angel you should smile too."

Brianna sniffled. "I'll miss Pikachu." she said in between sobs.

Ash smiled and pointed to the house that was in the left. "Do you see that house?" he asked her, and she nodded. "Me and Pikachu live there. And if you promise me you'll never be sad anymore and it is okay with your mom you can come play with us, or we'll come play with you okay?"

Brianna nodded. "Do you promise?"

He placed his hands in his heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

Brianna shook her head. "No heart promises. My mommy and daddy had one of those, and he broke it."

"Well he doesn't know what lovely princess of a daughter he's missing out on," Ash said as he held out his pinky. "is it a promise then?"

Brianna hooked her pinky to his and nodded. "I can play with Pikachu? Then yes!"

"Who knows? Maybe when you're ten you can get your own Pikachu."

"I don't want a Pikachu. I want a Piplup like my mommy's."

Ash smiled and grinned. "Very well miss coordinator Brianna. Me and the rest of the crew have to go to work now," then he whispered to her "don't worry you'll see me again soon."

He stood up and smiled at Dawn. "Okay, now I'm really glad neither of you are ghosts.'' he teased.

Dawn shook her head in disbelief. This man acted even more childish than Brianna, and she was seven! "I guess this is goodbye then?"

"I live next door," Ash reminded her. "You will be seeing more of me... can I visit again?"

"Wouldn't dream of missing it for the world," she countered back. "Come on Brianna let's go inside."

"Okay mommy. Bye mister Pikachu guy."

Ash laughed as he placed his hat on. "Call me Ash," he said smirking as he walked to the van. "And you miss Dawn can call me Ash too if you like."